Book binding



Feb- 19, 1957l A. J. ALLEGRETTI 2,782,056

BOOK BINDING nited States Patent() BOOK BINDINGv Anthony J. Allegretti, Westchester, Ill., assignor, by mesne assignments, to R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Delaware Application September 21, 1954, Serial No. 457,374

3 lClaims. (Cl. 281-21) This invention relates to an Vimproved binding for cased books of the patent bound (perfect bound) type. It also applies to stitched books, but is of less benefit there.

In the patent binding of books, the signatures which are to make up the book have their folded margins sheared E so that the sheets may be secured together by a line line of adhesive between each two sheets. The sheets go over a glue wheel which applies adhesive to the edges of the sheets and for a very short distance between the sheets and on the exposed faces of the front and back sheets. The next step in the conventional binding operation depends upon whether the finished book is to be cased or -is to merely have a heavy paper cover such as that 0n a telephone book. In the conventional telephone book construction, a super of cheesecloth is adhered to the Spine of the book, and has its ends extend 1A; inch or so around the front and back pages of the book. The heavy paper cover is then adhered to the spine with adhesive, and to theffront and back pages for about the distance covered by the super and the exposed adhesive which comes through the super; and the book is subjected to heavy pressure, known as smashing, to rmly bond the sheets, super and cover togther.

If the book is to be cased-i. e., provided with a hard board cover, or case-the glued pages are rst rounded and backed byholding them firmly in a press with the glued margins projecting l inch or so, and running a rounding roller back and forth across the spine of the book to bend the pages out along their secured margins. This may be done because of the elasticity of the adhesive which is used. -When thev book has been rounded and backed the glued margins of the sheets have the flared construction which is common in cased books, whether produced by the patent method or by stitching. A superrand a liner are then'put on, consisting of a layer of cheesecloth and a layer ofheavy paper. End sheets are then tipped onto the first and last pages of the book, and the case (consisting of the hard covers and exible connecting back which extends across the spine of the book) are secured to the book by gluing the inner faces of the boards forming the case to the, end sheets.

f There'are three seriousweaknesses in the cased patent bound book. In the first place, the individual sheets are held together onlyby the adhesive between them and are not adhered to any third sheet during the time that the rounding and backing operations are performed. Second, the sheets cannot be smashed or nipped prior to rounding and backing to provide adequate adherence of the sheets to one another, because of the exposed adhesive on the front and back sheets. Thus, there is an inordinate tendency for the sheets to become separated during rounding and backing. Third, the covers are secured to the book only by means of the narrow marginal portions of the end sheets which are tipped onto the front and back pages of the book. Thus, the case is rather ice ' which is entirely adhered to the case except for the mar ginal portions which are tipped onto the rst and last sheets of a book, or it may be a continuous end sheet which is doubled on itself so that one-half provides a ilyleaf which is tipped onto the adjacent outside page of the book, and the other half is adhered to the board cover,

or case.

In accordance with the present invention a patent bound book which is to be cased is first providedy with a heavy paper cover similar to that on a telephone book or the like which is iirmly adhered to the spine of the book. The paper cover overlies the strips of' adhesive on the exposed faces of the front and back sheets, so that the assembly may be smashed or nipped to get maximum adherence between the sheets, and of the cover With the stack of sheets. This cover provides Athe end sheets to which the case for the book is adhered. In order to permit the rounding and backing operations which are necessary in the production of a cased book, the heavy paper cover, which is herein referred to as an end sheet blank, is provided with a line of weakening which runs from top to bottom at the center of the blank, so that it is positioned centrally of the book spine when the blank is secured toa book. This line of weakening may be straight, but it is preferably zigzag. The line of weakening permits the end sheet blank to rupture during the rounding and backing steps, so that there is a small gap (about 1A@ to 1/8 inch) separating the two halves of the end sheet. In the case of a zigzag line of weakening, the two end sheet segments which result from rupturing the end sheet blank have portions which extend across most of the sheets in the book, so as to give a firm connection between the sheets and the end sheets across the entire spine of the book. The binding operation may be completed by applying a super over the end sheets if desired, and by then applying the case which has the inner faces of its board covers adhered to the end sheets in the usual manner. If it is desired to have a continuous end sheet providing a yleaf, the ilyleaf may be tipped onto the end sheet where it is adhered to the case adjacent the spine of the book.

The present invention improves the book for three reasons. First, during rounding and backing the sheets are adhered not only to one another but also to the overlying portions of the end sheet blank. Second, the book may be smashed or nipped prior to rounding and backing. Third, the case is secured to the book over a much larger area than is possible where the end sheetsv are merely tipped in. l l

The term zigzag as used herein is intended to cover a line which is sinuous, or sinuous with relatively square corners, or true zigzag where each segment of the line of weakening forms a V.

The invention is illustrated in a preferred embodimen inthe accompanying drawings in which:

Figpl is a transverse sectional view of a book bound in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view similar to Fig. l with the pages removed to better illustrate the construction;

Fig. 3 is a section taken as indicated along the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

, Figs. 4, 6 and 8 are plan views of three alternative forms of end sheet blanks; and

Figs. 5, 7 and 9 show the appearance, respectively, of the end sheet blanks of Figs. 4, 6 and 8 after rounding.

Referring to the drawings in greater detail,` a cased book consists of a group of signatures, each containing a number of interfolded sheets.

Patented F eb. `19, v1957` The folded margins of the signatures are cut ot so that the edges of the sheets are exposed. In Fig. 1 the spaces between adjacent signatures are accentuated so as to show clearly that the book consists of` several signatures, each ,containing several sheets, the signatures being indicatedby thereference numeral 10. Atthe spine of lthebook the individual sheetsof the signatures are ,adhered together inthe conventional manner by means of a layer of adhesive 11 which covers the edges of all-the sheets in the book andl extends a fraction of an inch between each pair of sheets so as to secure them together.

In the binding operation the glued sheets forming the book are next provided with a continuous end sheet blank, indicated generally at 12, which has a front end sheet portion 13 and` a rear end sheet portion 14-separated by a line of weakening 15.

The end sheet blank 12 may be of the type shown in Fig. 4, or alternatively an endl sheet-blank 112 or 212 of the type shown in Figs.'6 and'8, respectively, may be employed. The line of weakening 115 for the alternate end sheet blank 112 is sinuous, while the line of weakening 215 might be called angular sinuous` or tongue and groove.

The end sheetv blank isset firmly-into the adhesive layer 11 so that it is adhered tothe ends of all the sheets in the book. This may be accomplished in part by a conventional smashing or nipping operation which also firms up the adhesive bond between the sheets of the book. The front end sheet portion 13 and the rear end sheet portion 14 overlie the trst and last sheetsof the book, respectively, and the line of weakening 15 extends down the center of the spine of the book.

The book, including its end `sheet b1ank12, may then bc subjected to the rounding and backing operation, in

which the spine of the book is fanned out, stretching the adhesive. 'this operation ruptures the end sheet .blank 12 alongy the line of weakening 15 to form a small. gap 15a which extends from end to end ofthe spine` (see Figs. 4 and 5). 1n the case of the sinuous line of weak'- ening 115, a sinuous gap 115a is produced as seen. in Fig. 7; or in the case of the angular sinuous `or tongue and groove line of weakening 215 there is a correspondingly shaped gap 21511 extending along. the spine of the book. Thetypes` of -end sheet blanks shown in Figs. 6 and 8 present an advantage over the end sheet blank of Fig. 4 in that the two end sheet portions which overlie the spine of the book, suchas the portions indicated as 113m and 114.11 in Fig. 7, or 213:1 and 21441 in Fig'. 9, have alternate tongues designated 113b and 114b in Fig. 7 or 21311 and 214b in Fig. 9, which extend substantially across the spine of the book and are adhered to most of thc sheets. This is necessarily a somewhat stronger construction than Athat shown in Fig. 5 whcreeach of the end shect portions 13a and 14a which is adhered to the spine i is attached to only about one-half of the sheets. The rupturing which takes Vplace along the line of weakening necessarily leaves some matching ruptured fibers extending toward each other along the ruptured margins of the two end sheets, and leaves some detached fibrous ,material in the adhesive between the two separated `margins of the end sheets.

A conventional super 22, of cheesecloth or the like,

is adhered to the end sheet portions overlying the spine; and then after rounding and backing, the case, indicated generally at 16, is secured to the book by gluing it directly to the end sheet portions 13 and 14. The case is conventional, and consists of a front board 17, a back board 18, and a ilexible back piece 19 which are entirely covered by the usual decorative buckram or plastic sheet 20 which extends entirely around the boards 17 and 18 and flexible back 19, and has its outer end portions 21 beneath the adhered end sheet portions 13 and 14.

it is obvious that if a continuous end sheet is desired, so that the book has front and back flyleaves, the yleaves may be tipped in along the parts of the front and back end sheet portions 13 and 14 adjacent the rear ends of the boards 17 and 18.

The foregoing detailed description is given for clearness of understanding'only and no unnecessary limitations are to be understood therefrom, as some modifications will be obvious to thoseskilled in the art.

1 claim:

l. A bound book of the character described, comprising: a stack of sheets having trimmed rear margins, the rear marginal portions of said sheets beingsecured to gether by a coating of elastic adhesive which covers the back of the stack and normally the rear marginal portion of both faces of each sheet; a pair of end sheets Wrapped around the faces and substantially the entire back of said stack and firmly adhered to the exposed parts of said coating, the adjacent margins of said end sheets being very slightly spaced apart and being characterized by the fact that they have matching ruptured fibers extending toward each other and stuckin said adhesive, and there being detached fibrous material from said end sheet blanks stuck in the adhesive between they adjacent margins of the sheets; board covers adhered to the faces of said end sheets; and a flexible back piece connecting said board covers.

2. The device of claim 1 in which thev space between the adjacent margins ofthe end sheets extends straight from top to bottom of said sheets.

3. The device of claim 1 in which the space between the adjacent margins of the end sheets zigzags from end to end of said sheets, so that each sheet has a plurality of spaced tongues extending substantially beyond the r center line of the back of said stack.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 240,805 Baumfalk May 3, 1881 353,562 Johnson Nov. 30, 1886 494,382 Parmelee Mar. 28, 1893 719,154 Smith et al, Jan. 27, 1903 1,017,007 Lipps Feb. 13, 1912 1,442,056 Edmonds Ian. 26, 1923 1,776,713 Whitlock Sept. 23, 1930 1,844,516 Meyer et al. Feb. 9, 1932 2,154,516 LEnfant Apr. 18, 1939 2,471,482 French May- 31, 1949 2,524,259 Hildrnann Oct. 3, 1950 2,572,243 Cashin et al. Oct. 23, 1951 2,577,568l De Florez et al. Dec. 4, 1951 '2,620,205 Vogt Dec, 2, 1952 1W' een 

